Before an integrated circuit is placed in a final product, electrical testing must be performed to insure that the integrated circuit is not defective. With the increase in complexity of integrated circuits, the time required to perform the necessary testing has increased exponentially. The complexities of the testing process have become so great that testing has become a bottleneck in the manufacturing process. This is particularly true with custom integrated circuits such as programmable arrays and application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). For these custom circuits, specific, carefully designed testing programs must be performed to insure that the customized integrated circuit meets the customer's specifications.
Present testing techniques utilize a mechanical system whereby the integrated circuit is removed from a storage tray and placed into an electrical socket. This mechanical manipulation requires a certain amount of time. Because this manipulation must be repeated for each integrated circuit, the time lost to the mechanical manipulation is multiplied by the number of integrated circuits in a storage tray. Also, the mechanical manipulation of the integrated circuit increases the possibility that destruction of the chip may occur from cracking the package or bending the lead.